Monthly Archives: August 2020

British Columbia’s online gambling up one-fifth to record C$179m

Online gambling revenue in the Canadian province of British Columbia enjoyed a record surge in the most recent fiscal year even before COVID-19 shut down land-based options.

On Monday, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) issued its annual report for the 12 months ending March 31, during which the Crown Corporation generated revenue of C$2.53b (US$1.94b), a 2.2% decline from fiscal 2018-19’s total. Net income fell 4.8% to just under C$1.35b.

BC closed its casinos in mid-March due to COVID-19, but this only negatively impacted the fiscal year’s final month. Nonetheless, BCLC’s ‘Casino & Community Gaming Operations’ reported revenue of C$1.83b, down 3.7% year-on-year, while net income dipped 5.5% to C$929.3m.

Slot machine revenue fell 2.3% to C$1.37b while table games fell 8.1% to C$417m. The table decline is slightly larger than the previous year, suggesting that the province’s post-scandal efforts to more properly observe anti-money laundering (AML) compliance continue to act as a drag on revenue.

Imperial Pacific loses $103m, accuses CNMI of reneging on casino exclusivity

Saipan casino operator Imperial Pacific International (IPI) threw another $103m onto the bonfire in the first half of 2020, while questioning the definition of ‘exclusivity’ in order to get out of paying its license fees.

On Monday, IPI released its interim results for the first six months ending June 30, during which revenue fell 93.3% year-on-year to just HK$26.7m (US$3.4m). The company booked an operating loss of nearly HK$53m while its actual losses hit HK$798m (US$103m).

Believe it or not, that’s actually a significant improvement over the nearly US$240m the company lost in H1 2019, and the improvement came despite IPI being forced to close its Imperial Palace casino in mid-March due to COVID-19. Perhaps IPI should choose not to operate any gaming whatsoever in the second half of 2020 in the hopes that it might break even.

IPI’s once vaunted VIP gambling business booked a net loss of HK$24.7m in H2 versus a HK$255m gain the previous year. Mass table game and electronic gaming revenue each fell by two-thirds to HK$32.8m and HK$12.8m, respectively.

Raptors, Nuggets small favorites on Tuesday NBA odds

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

One small benefit of the coronavirus pandemic shutting down the NBA for around four months? Playoff basketball in September for the first time. Tuesday is the first day of September and there are two postseason games on the schedule from the ESPN World Wide of Sports Complex in the Orlando bubble.

The first game at 5:30 p.m. ET is the Eastern Conference third-seeded Boston Celtics as 1.5-point underdogs against the No. 2 Toronto Raptors in Game 2 of their conference semifinal series. Interesting line considering Boston largely dominated Game 1 in a 112-94 victory Sunday to improve to 4-1 against the Raptors this season.

Boston’s Jayson Tatum had 21 points and nine rebounds and Kemba Walker 18 points and 10 assists, but those two stars are expected to play well. The Celtics also got surprising contributions from Daniel Theis (13 points, 15 rebounds), Marcus Smart (21 points, six rebounds) and Robert Williams III (10 points, five rebounds in only 19 minutes off the bench).

Djokovic and Isner among ATP walkout as player council grows closer

On the eve of the U.S. Open, men’s tennis has been split, with a breakaway group of players insisting that they want to leave the ATP and form their own Players Council in protest at the treatment of players by the governing body of tennis.

Led by Novak Djokovic, the proposed Professional Tennis Players’ Association is in direct competition with the ATP Players Council, which Novak Djokovic quit to set up this independent player body.

Djokovic is also in direct conflict with the other two men who form the ‘Holy Trinity’ of male tennis legends – Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and the Serbian himself. Both Nadal and Federer remain members of the Players Council in the ATP, and Andy Murray hasn’t joined the splinter group either.

That said, well over five dozen players have signed up, including players such as John Isner, and Vasek Pospisil, the Canadian being one of the players who are behind the PTPA too.

Three more world series bracelets won across busy weekend

A trio of WSOP winners will await the delivery of gold in the post in the coming days after they booked wins on the WSOP 2020 Online Series, bagging hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process.

From a double-stack win to a turbo victory, the weekend had something for everyone to enjoy, especially the big winners on GGPoker.

Event #75 – Double Stack No Limit Hold’em

The $300-entry Double Stack Event #75 had a total of 3,552 entries, with almost a million dollars in the prizepool. Just 440 places were paid, and in the end it was Norwegian player Trygve Leite who triumphed against Italian Emanuele Monari to win his first-ever WSOP bracelet and claim the top prize of $130,100.

FanDuel Sportsbook goes live in Illinois, teams up with PGA TOUR

Sports betting operator FanDuel has finally gone live in Illinois while signing a new gaming partnership with the PGA TOUR.

Last Friday, FanDuel officially launched its FanDuel Par-A-Dice Sportsbook app in Illinois, co-branded with the name of its Par-A-Dice casino partner in East Peoria, which is part of the Boyd Gaming family of land-based gaming venues.

While FanDuel had received a temporary betting permit from the Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) in July, Boyd didn’t submit its final paperwork until August 19. Given the IGB’s previous timetables, it appeared that FanDuel might not receive its ‘go live’ approval until a few days before the new NFL season kicks off on September 10.

Perhaps the IGB is simply getting better at an unfamiliar task, because FanDuel’s app has now joined rival DraftKings and Rush Street Gaming’s BetRivers app in accepting online wagers in Illinois. Bettors can even sign up online, at least until September 19, by which point Gov. J.B. Pritzker may flip-flop yet again on that score.